A Bump In the Road
by cloudydayswithblindingsun
Summary: After leaving Quinn and Beth in her sophomore year of college, Rachel Berry has had a lot of time to think about the ways things could have been. Thirteen years later, Rachel meets a seventeen year old Beth. Can Rachel make things right or is it too late?


A thump followed by the tug of breaks snapped Rachel out of her day dream.

"Shit!" The driver hissed under his breath.

Rachel leaned forward in her seat. "Is everything okay?" She asked the younger man, "What was that?"

The young red head blushed profusely. "Nothing, Miss Berry!" She could hear him hissing more expletives under his breath.

Someone began pounding on the driver's side door. Rachel's eyebrows furrowed at this. "What's going on?" She asked as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

"N-nothing! Stay here Miss Berry, I'll handle this!" The boy ducked out of the car, Rachel catching sight of a young blonde.

Rachel decided that this definitely was not a good situation. She smoothed her dress made by Hummel and stepped from the back seat, passenger side of the car.

"What do you mean you didn't mean to?!" Rachel could hear the young blonde teen screaming. "You hit me with your car you moron!"

At this Rachel hurried over to where the argument was taking place. She removed the sunglasses from her eyes and placed them securely on top of her head. "What happened?" Rachel quickly walked up to her driver and the young woman, staring expectantly at him.

He scratched the back of his neck, "She walked out in front of me. I barely even tapped her with the car!" Trevor, the driver, defended.

"Oh yeah?" The blonde motioned to her back and butt which had rips in the jeans and the shirt was torn. "Tell that to my ass!" Trevor flushed at this.

Rachel looked at the road burn she had and winced. This surely was not how she was planning on starting her first day of rehearsals to the new Broadway play she had accepted.

"I am incredibly sorry for what has happened here." Rachel began. She pulled out a piece of paper and began to write her number down. "If you would like to exchange information I'm sure this can all be cleared up." Rachel paused. "Of course, if you need medical attention we can immediately call." Rachel finished writing and finally looked up to meet the teenager's eyes. She froze at the sight. This young woman looked exactly like a blonde who had consumed her dreams for many years.

The teenager eyed her angrily and suspiciously before snatching the paper from her hand. "You'll hear from my aunt." She responded as she turned quickly to storm away. The blonde paused before turning around to a still shell-shocked Rachel. "She's a lawyer!" She yelled.

Rachel was still in a stupor of what had just occurred. She snapped out of it in a few moments and waved in an apologetic manner as the honking of horns intensified. "Wait!" She called after the girl.

"Miss Berry!" Trevor called. She turned around to see him standing awkwardly. "What do I do?"

"Go home!" She yelled back.

Rachel was cursing her decision to wear high heels this morning. She wasn't sure what she had been thinking. "Please wait!" Rachel called at the girl.

The blonde paused, taking a deep breath and heaving her shoulders. Rachel approached her cautiously, not sure why she left to chase someone. For all she knew this could be a horribly elaborate trap by a stalker.

"What?" The blonde said, slowly turning to meet Rachel's eyes.

Rachel, who was out of breath from jogging in heels, stared at the young woman. She had long blonde hair and dazzling hazel eyes. There was no way it wasn't her. "What's your name?" Rachel asked without thinking.

The teen blinked at her a few times. "What." She said, clearly annoyed at the situation.

Rachel had to think of something. "For-for the contact information!"

The blonde teen rolled her eyes and spun on her heels. "You'll get your call, Rachel Berry, don't you worry."

"H-how do you know my name?" Rachel needed to know if it was her.

She could practically hear the girl rolling her eyes. She turned around once more and pointed towards a billboard, not bothering to look at Rachel.

Rachel looked and saw her face plastered on it. Her name in huge, bright lettering. "Oh." Rachel sighed. "It's only fair that I know yours then."

"What, are we in kindergarten?" The blonde asked. When she received no reply and only Rachel's desperate eyes she raised one eyebrow before sighing. "Beth Fabray." She said plainly. "Like I said, you'll get your call." And with that, she turned once more and left.

Rachel, on the other hand, could simply stare, wide eyed and mouth agape. The young girl that she had helped raise, who had lived in her room in high school. Who she had held many nights when her mother was in class or working in the city. Who had been like a daughter to her until she was four years old, was in New York City. And that could only mean that where she was, Quinn was as well.

Rachel thought of what this could mean. She could make things right, apologize for the way things had gone. They could be what Rachel had so desperately craved after she realized too late. Rachel turned and began the walk towards the theater, sliding her glasses back onto her face as she went. Her heart was aching with this information.

She was nearly to the theater when she felt her phone begin to ring. She glanced at the caller ID, not recognizing it. She normally would send it to voicemail, but this was her personal line, and she was still feeling the adrenaline coursing through her veins. "Hello?" She answered.

"Rachel Fucking Berry." She heard in response.

Rachel took a deep breath. She shouldn't have expected anything else. Of course, this was the aunt, and of course she was a lawyer. "Santana." She stated. This was not going to be her day.

Beth had walked towards her home, sore from the incident that had happened, and veered off to the house next to her own. She couldn't get the encounter out of her mind, each time she thought about it she became more irritated.

The blonde teenager burst through the door and slammed it in her anger. She began ripping her shoes off when she felt eyes on her back. Her anger melted immediately because she knew who it was. The soft hands gently touching at the marks where she had slid across the road were indicators.

"What happened?" Brittany asked softly. When Beth turned she looked at her aunt's eyes. They were glossy. She was clearly very worried.

Beth sighed and hugged her aunt who returned it powerfully. Brittany drew back, still holding onto the girl and Beth cleared her throat. "A car ran into me."

Brittany gasped at this. "How? What happened? Where?" She turned Beth around to examine her injuries closer.

Beth internally face palmed at this. She should've worded it differently. Now she had upset aunt B.

"What's all the loud crap in here?" Santana chose that moment to appear at the door way. She glanced at Brittany who was examining her back and then to Beth. "Wanna tell me what happened, Little B?" Santana said as she strode over to her wife, wincing too as she saw the marks.

"A car hit her!" Brittany answered as she looked deep into her wife's eyes. Beth watched as Santana's eyes lit up with an anger that looked like hellfire.

"WHAT?!" Santana all but yelled, dropping her bag that contained her laptop and important case files.

Beth turned away from them and backed up. "It's not a big deal I feel fine."

Santana paced "You feel fine now! You could have a Cardiac Tamponade for all we know!" Santana began digging through her pockets.

"What are you doing?" Beth asked, knowing that this wasn't going to end well.

"Calling your mom!" She answered in frustration and fear, she loved Little B like she was her own. Hell, she and Britt helped raise her all her life.

Beth felt her eyes grow huge. "No! She's busy! Please, Aunty San!" Beth tried to think of anything that would stop her. She knew her mom had residents right now and she had already pulled two nights staying at the hospital. Then, it hit her. Beth dug through her pocket. "I have the woman's number!" She held the scrap of paper up like it was a winning lottery ticket.

Santana gently took the paper and kissed the top of Beth's head. She glanced at the paper and froze. Santana looked at Brittany with what Beth referred to as "The Look". She could never decipher how they communicated though it but they did. Aunt B always said she was a little psychic.

"What?" Beth asked. "Is it the name? She used to be you guys and mom's friend, right?" Beth asked without knowing.

Brittany offered her hand and Beth took it. "Let's get the scrapes cleaned and bandaged, okay?"

Beth nodded before looking to her other aunt. "Is everything okay?" The teen asked in concern.

Santana took a moment to respond but smiled at her. "Everything is just fine, sweetie." Beth smiled at this.

"Sorry to bug you so early." She said sadly.

"Hey," Santana approached her and hugged her tightly. "You have never bothered us."

They broke apart and with one last kiss to her head, Brittany helped Beth limp towards the bathroom. She was going to play some loud music so that they could rock out and hopefully not hear Santana explode. Because everything was far from fine and Brittany knew it. She just hoped that Rachel had good medical insurance.


End file.
